http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v6WyeQJTwc
The above link/video is fantastic. I've watched the first 40 minutes and so far think it's pretty good. The guy also has a site www.drdino.com .... Thanks To Stephen T. McCarthy for brining this to my attention.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wisdom
28 ] And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Job 28:28 ESV
Of all the time I have prayed for wisdom and understanding. i know I'm a sinner, and i know I don't know the inner most parts of how the universe, life, and Godly manners really work. Don't get me wrong I've been working the word for a long time. However, that doesnt mean one is wise and has understanding. Doesn't mean I don't either. The more one knows the more one knows just how much they don't know, and how much God is really doing for us.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (ESV)
Proverbs 9:10
pThe fear of the Lord is the By tsteadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by uthe fear of the Lord one vturns away from evil.
beginning of wisdom,
and qthe knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Proverbs 3:7
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
Proverbs 16:6
By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
Thanks to esvonline.org which allowed me to find these verses very quickly.
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Job 28:28 ESV
Of all the time I have prayed for wisdom and understanding. i know I'm a sinner, and i know I don't know the inner most parts of how the universe, life, and Godly manners really work. Don't get me wrong I've been working the word for a long time. However, that doesnt mean one is wise and has understanding. Doesn't mean I don't either. The more one knows the more one knows just how much they don't know, and how much God is really doing for us.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (ESV)
Proverbs 9:10
pThe fear of the Lord is the By tsteadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by uthe fear of the Lord one vturns away from evil.
beginning of wisdom,
and qthe knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Proverbs 3:7
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
Proverbs 16:6
By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
Thanks to esvonline.org which allowed me to find these verses very quickly.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
persecution
I found this article on line, and thought it was pretty good. You can read it here, or follow the link to the site. I have some experience with this ministry (though I am not a member of their group).
http://www.stfonline.org/network/articles/handlepersecution.html
There is nothing more certain than the fact that we will face adversity. Some of this will be natural. For example, if we want to learn to hang glide or do technical mountain climbing, we will find gravity to be a serious adversary. But this is not a personal thing. Gravity adversely affects everyone who tries to go against it. We understand this, this is not hard to deal with, and we can easily accept it in evaluating the benefits or the consequences of our choices.
We decide to go on a diet this year and are suddenly surrounded by all our favorite foods in abundance. So do we accuse the hostess at our Christmas party of personally attacking us? Not if we want to be invited back. Though this kind of opposition to our commitments can feel almost personal, we recognize it as a natural thing. We realize that as soon as we have made a commitment we will have opportunity to blow it. The universe just seems to work that way.
What is harder to deal with is when we face personal opposition to the things we value and decisions we make. Sometimes this opposition is appropriate because we have made a bad decision and those who love us are trying to help us see that what we want to do is harmful to others or ourselves. Such godly opposition hopefully comes in the form of honest disagreement, but without efforts to either control or punish us. These are “the wounds from a friend,” of which Proverbs 27:6 speaks.
Other times the opposition we face is of a more aggressive kind, and involves a person or group going out of their way to “pursue” us to push us to change or to punish us for not doing so. This falls into the category of “persecution,” something that literally means “to be pursued or chased.” God’s Word says that all godly people “will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12 NRSV). The verb is in the indicative future passive, and thus simply states a future fact. The only way to get out of it is to not live in a godly way, and even then we’re going to feel hounded by the consequences of our sins.
So if persecution is part of the program for a faithful believer, how are we supposed to deal with it? Jesus addresses the subject directly, in the context of “the parable of the sower.” The immature will allow persecution to prevent them from growing up spiritually (Matt. 13:21).
Jesus calls them “blessed” who are persecuted for being and doing rightly (Matt. 5:10), implying that if you are not righteous you can expect persecution without being blessed. If we have to choose, let’s order the one with the blessing with it. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus gives us a very definite way of being with those who persecute us, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
So, ok, fine, we’ll pray for them. We’ll pray for... retaliation, or God’s judgment on them, or for them to fall into a big hole. We’ll get a bumper sticker that says, “I brake to pray for God’s retribution on those who oppose me.”
No, the fact is, we are supposed to learn to endure persecution without retaliating as a necessary part of following the Lord. Learning to do so is an important way of demonstrating that we believe that God is our sufficiency. We learn to take solace by doing our best to be faithful to Him and to accept the consequences of doing so in a fallen world orchestrated by the Devil, and antagonistic to godliness.
There is another important reason to learn to endure persecution with no desire for revenge (not even a little bit, Lord? Couldn’t they just fall into a small hole?). That is, in seeing ourselves as victims of persecution, we could turn into persecutors ourselves. How could that happen? It happens according to the Drama Triangle, a concept popularized by Daniel Karpman in an article he wrote in 1968, but clearly evidenced in Scripture. The triangle is formed by three interacting players: the persecutor, the victim, and the rescuer. Each role plays off of the others, and traps each player in a dramatic cycle that tumbles them around like they were in a dryer. Once you start playing one role you will play them all eventually.
The persecutor is the villain who attacks the victim, who then cries out for help. Enter the rescuer who thwarts the persecutors evil plans and saves the damsel in distress. Variations of this theme abound in literary and cinematic art.
For our purposes here, we just need to understand that most persecutors perceive themselves as victims protecting themselves from being victimized again. The Devil, the biggest persecutor we can think of, thinks of himself as a victim of God’s injustice. He just wanted a little independence, after all, and discover his identity apart from his oppressive and controlling Creator, and for that he got booted out of the heavenly castle. He is now trying to “free” others from The Tyrant who imposes His morality on everybody and insists on being the only God.
Thus, Satan is on an unholy vendetta against his Maker, doing his best to chase down and victimize those who believe in God and His Son Jesus Christ. But he does it because he thinks himself a victim, and then fancies himself a rescuer. That’s a good reason to avoid thinking like a victim. The way to break out of the Drama Triangle is to forgive, let Jesus do the rescuing, and leave vengeance to God.
It is a sad reality that most humans who are guilty of persecuting or abusing others are just perpetuating evil that was perpetrated upon them. Victims of child abuse abuse their own children, and so on. Unless we learn to forgive in the depth of our hearts and bless those who have persecuted us, we will unconsciously continue their practices and create victims in our own wake. Yuck!
Being “Under Attack”
We are most certainly in a spiritual battle, and thus are subjected to a variety of “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16 NRSV). But we must be careful not to over dramatize this, or to attribute to the Devil and his minions what is only natural opposition and adversity. If we become “super-spiritual” and see the Devil and demons behind every hindering circumstance, every criticism, or anything that makes us feel bad, we are going to start developing a persecution complex and even paranoia. This happens when we over-personalize the spiritual battle.
Well, if we have a personal adversary, shouldn’t we be taking it pretty personally when we get attacked? First of all, we must remember what the Word says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NRSV) “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone.” Tires are going to blow, sleet is going to fall, arguments are going to happen and friends are going to betray us. In all these things we are still “more than conquerors” and can see the hand of our delivering God, to whom we must keep looking steadfastly. When we over-dramatize the adverse circumstances and invest them with all kinds of spiritual significance, we may just be setting ourselves up for more spiritual problems as well as look pretty silly in the process.
Enduring persecution and not responding in kind does not mean, however, that we never respond at all. In both Jesus’ and Paul’s examples we can learn that there is a time for answering our accusers and even “silencing” them. Titus 1:9-13 addresses the need for the Christian leader to “have a firm grasp of the word...so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.” And, speaking of those who oppose sound teaching, Paul says, “There are also many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision; they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach.” What is Paul’s method of “silencing” these people? “Rebuke them sharply.” And his motivation? “So that they may become sound in the faith.”
No doubt when Titus followed Paul’s advice, these people felt “attacked,” and probably thought that the two men were “persecuting” them. But there is a big difference between speaking truthfully in accordance with Scripture (and with a godly motive) and misleading God’s people away from sound teaching and practice.
We must stick with Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, “to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.” Sound doctrine concerning persecution is that we endure it patiently, responding not to defend ourselves but to affirm the truth of God’s Word and to protect His people from evil.
Again we must avoid the extremes—of living to avoid persecution or becoming so used to it that we become indifferent to it. We need to learn to endure it patiently, pray for mercy on those who persecute us, let the pain remind us of Jesus and all he went through for us, and keep faithful to our calling despite opposition.
http://www.stfonline.org/network/articles/handlepersecution.html
There is nothing more certain than the fact that we will face adversity. Some of this will be natural. For example, if we want to learn to hang glide or do technical mountain climbing, we will find gravity to be a serious adversary. But this is not a personal thing. Gravity adversely affects everyone who tries to go against it. We understand this, this is not hard to deal with, and we can easily accept it in evaluating the benefits or the consequences of our choices.
We decide to go on a diet this year and are suddenly surrounded by all our favorite foods in abundance. So do we accuse the hostess at our Christmas party of personally attacking us? Not if we want to be invited back. Though this kind of opposition to our commitments can feel almost personal, we recognize it as a natural thing. We realize that as soon as we have made a commitment we will have opportunity to blow it. The universe just seems to work that way.
What is harder to deal with is when we face personal opposition to the things we value and decisions we make. Sometimes this opposition is appropriate because we have made a bad decision and those who love us are trying to help us see that what we want to do is harmful to others or ourselves. Such godly opposition hopefully comes in the form of honest disagreement, but without efforts to either control or punish us. These are “the wounds from a friend,” of which Proverbs 27:6 speaks.
Other times the opposition we face is of a more aggressive kind, and involves a person or group going out of their way to “pursue” us to push us to change or to punish us for not doing so. This falls into the category of “persecution,” something that literally means “to be pursued or chased.” God’s Word says that all godly people “will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12 NRSV). The verb is in the indicative future passive, and thus simply states a future fact. The only way to get out of it is to not live in a godly way, and even then we’re going to feel hounded by the consequences of our sins.
So if persecution is part of the program for a faithful believer, how are we supposed to deal with it? Jesus addresses the subject directly, in the context of “the parable of the sower.” The immature will allow persecution to prevent them from growing up spiritually (Matt. 13:21).
Jesus calls them “blessed” who are persecuted for being and doing rightly (Matt. 5:10), implying that if you are not righteous you can expect persecution without being blessed. If we have to choose, let’s order the one with the blessing with it. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus gives us a very definite way of being with those who persecute us, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
So, ok, fine, we’ll pray for them. We’ll pray for... retaliation, or God’s judgment on them, or for them to fall into a big hole. We’ll get a bumper sticker that says, “I brake to pray for God’s retribution on those who oppose me.”
No, the fact is, we are supposed to learn to endure persecution without retaliating as a necessary part of following the Lord. Learning to do so is an important way of demonstrating that we believe that God is our sufficiency. We learn to take solace by doing our best to be faithful to Him and to accept the consequences of doing so in a fallen world orchestrated by the Devil, and antagonistic to godliness.
There is another important reason to learn to endure persecution with no desire for revenge (not even a little bit, Lord? Couldn’t they just fall into a small hole?). That is, in seeing ourselves as victims of persecution, we could turn into persecutors ourselves. How could that happen? It happens according to the Drama Triangle, a concept popularized by Daniel Karpman in an article he wrote in 1968, but clearly evidenced in Scripture. The triangle is formed by three interacting players: the persecutor, the victim, and the rescuer. Each role plays off of the others, and traps each player in a dramatic cycle that tumbles them around like they were in a dryer. Once you start playing one role you will play them all eventually.
The persecutor is the villain who attacks the victim, who then cries out for help. Enter the rescuer who thwarts the persecutors evil plans and saves the damsel in distress. Variations of this theme abound in literary and cinematic art.
For our purposes here, we just need to understand that most persecutors perceive themselves as victims protecting themselves from being victimized again. The Devil, the biggest persecutor we can think of, thinks of himself as a victim of God’s injustice. He just wanted a little independence, after all, and discover his identity apart from his oppressive and controlling Creator, and for that he got booted out of the heavenly castle. He is now trying to “free” others from The Tyrant who imposes His morality on everybody and insists on being the only God.
Thus, Satan is on an unholy vendetta against his Maker, doing his best to chase down and victimize those who believe in God and His Son Jesus Christ. But he does it because he thinks himself a victim, and then fancies himself a rescuer. That’s a good reason to avoid thinking like a victim. The way to break out of the Drama Triangle is to forgive, let Jesus do the rescuing, and leave vengeance to God.
It is a sad reality that most humans who are guilty of persecuting or abusing others are just perpetuating evil that was perpetrated upon them. Victims of child abuse abuse their own children, and so on. Unless we learn to forgive in the depth of our hearts and bless those who have persecuted us, we will unconsciously continue their practices and create victims in our own wake. Yuck!
Being “Under Attack”
We are most certainly in a spiritual battle, and thus are subjected to a variety of “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16 NRSV). But we must be careful not to over dramatize this, or to attribute to the Devil and his minions what is only natural opposition and adversity. If we become “super-spiritual” and see the Devil and demons behind every hindering circumstance, every criticism, or anything that makes us feel bad, we are going to start developing a persecution complex and even paranoia. This happens when we over-personalize the spiritual battle.
Well, if we have a personal adversary, shouldn’t we be taking it pretty personally when we get attacked? First of all, we must remember what the Word says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NRSV) “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone.” Tires are going to blow, sleet is going to fall, arguments are going to happen and friends are going to betray us. In all these things we are still “more than conquerors” and can see the hand of our delivering God, to whom we must keep looking steadfastly. When we over-dramatize the adverse circumstances and invest them with all kinds of spiritual significance, we may just be setting ourselves up for more spiritual problems as well as look pretty silly in the process.
Enduring persecution and not responding in kind does not mean, however, that we never respond at all. In both Jesus’ and Paul’s examples we can learn that there is a time for answering our accusers and even “silencing” them. Titus 1:9-13 addresses the need for the Christian leader to “have a firm grasp of the word...so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.” And, speaking of those who oppose sound teaching, Paul says, “There are also many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision; they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach.” What is Paul’s method of “silencing” these people? “Rebuke them sharply.” And his motivation? “So that they may become sound in the faith.”
No doubt when Titus followed Paul’s advice, these people felt “attacked,” and probably thought that the two men were “persecuting” them. But there is a big difference between speaking truthfully in accordance with Scripture (and with a godly motive) and misleading God’s people away from sound teaching and practice.
We must stick with Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, “to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.” Sound doctrine concerning persecution is that we endure it patiently, responding not to defend ourselves but to affirm the truth of God’s Word and to protect His people from evil.
Again we must avoid the extremes—of living to avoid persecution or becoming so used to it that we become indifferent to it. We need to learn to endure it patiently, pray for mercy on those who persecute us, let the pain remind us of Jesus and all he went through for us, and keep faithful to our calling despite opposition.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Trust in God. The alternative doesn't work.
I have a lot of scripture here that and will let it speak for itself. These verses come from 2 chronicles. A little background. King David was a man who was a man after Gods own heart. His son Solomon was also successful. Solomons son Rahaboam lost the nation of israel but kept Judah. Israel fell into Idolatry, and all the priests of the true God fled to Judah. Now Judah was not without blame as they had alters to idols in their land as well. Now lets take a look at some scripture.
[13 :1] In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah. [2 ] He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.
Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. [3 ] Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam drew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. [4 ] Then Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim that is in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! [5 ] Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? [6 ] Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord, [7 ] and certain worthless scoundrels gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and irresolute and could not withstand them.
(2 Chronicles 13:1-7 ESV
] “And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. [9 ] Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are no gods. [10 ] But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the LORD who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. [11 ] They offer to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out the showbread on the table of pure gold, and care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him. [12 ] Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”
(2 Chronicles 13:8-12 ESV
] “And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. [9 ] Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are no gods. [10 ] But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the LORD who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. [11 ] They offer to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out the showbread on the table of pure gold, and care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him. [12 ] Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”
(2 Chronicles 13:8-12 ESV
[21 ] But Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. [22 ] The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
(2 Chronicles 13:21-22 ESV)
So we have gathered here that trusting in God and leaning on him gives a nation, peace, strength, honor, and prosperity. Not to mention being on the side of right. All this is accomplished even when the odds are not in your favor from a human perspective.
Asa
[14 :1] Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. [2 ] And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. [3 ] He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim [4 ] and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. [5 ] He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. [6 ] He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace. [7 ] And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.
(2 Chronicles 14:1-7 ESV)
Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. [10 ] And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. [11 ] And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” [12 ] So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. [13 ] Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the LORD and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. [14 ] And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. [15 ] And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
(2 Chronicles 14:9-15 ESV)
Again even when the odds are against you from a human perspective God can and will deliver you.
[15 :1] The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, [2 ] and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. [3 ] For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, [4 ] but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. [5 ] In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. [6 ] They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. [7 ] But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
(2 Chronicles 15:1-7 ESV)
Now this is very interesting. "If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you." Now where it says, "God troubled them with every sort of distress." would be considered by E.W. Bullinger to be the hebrew idiom of permission. Essentially to allow the enemy of Israel to defeat them because they turned their back on God. According to this idiom this is to say that God allowed it. This is more defined in Bullingers book, "Figures of Speech." You can decide for yourself if this interpretation is correct.
As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD. [9 ] And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. [10 ] They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. [11 ] They sacrificed to the LORD on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. [12 ] And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, [13 ] but that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. [14 ] They swore an oath to the LORD with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. [15 ] And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.
[16 ] Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. [17 ] But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. [18 ] And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. [19 ] And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
(2 Chronicles 15:8-19 ESV
Asa responded and peace, health and prosperity followed when he put God first.
16 :1] In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. [2 ] Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, [3 ] “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” [4 ] And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. [5 ] And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. [6 ] Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
(2 Chronicles 16:1-6 ESV
So God delivered Asa when he was badly outnumbered. God gave Asa 30 plus years without war for seeking God and putting him first. So it makes all the sense in the world that Asa would look Benhadad and give him the wealth from "the house of the Lord" because he was scared of his enemy. What?:O Asa knew better. He wasn't leaning on the Lord but through his own understanding. He sought out worldly help instead of help from God. The record doesn't say Asa looked to God first. No, he plundered the house of the Lord and gave the riches of it to Benhadad for "safety" !!! But that's not what he got is it? Read on.
[7 ] At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. [8 ] Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. [9 ] For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” [10 ] Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
(2 Chronicles 16:7-10 ESV)
11 ] The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. [12 ] In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. [13 ] And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. [14 ] They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.
(2 Chronicles 16:11-14 ESV)
Even in death Asa did not look to the Lord. He looked to physicians. No problem with seeing a doctor but remember all healing comes from God first. Your body is designed to heal itself. So all a doctor can do is assist your own body to heal itself. Had God not designed the body to heal it wouldn't do so no matter how good a physician is. Therefore, all healing comes from God. Asa became cruel, turned his back on the God who delivered him. This is an important lesson to all of us. Your not going to have an army to contend with during our day (well not yet). However, do you trust in worldly systems like IRA's, 401k's, your job, your brothers uncle, whatever, do you see that as your security FIRST????? If you do I promise you they will fail you. What Asa went through is not uncommon today. Yes the circumstances have changed but the principle remains intact. What so ever you put before God is an idol, period. And yes we all have them, or have had them. If you seek safety from anything above God that is putting your faith into that IDOL, and it will disappoint you. It's not that saving money, or planning to take care of your family is wrong. It only becomes wrong when you trust it more than God. This can be very subtle. I have to admit I've had to do a check up from the neck up more than once. And yes, I will probably have to do it again in the future.
[13 :1] In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah. [2 ] He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.
Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. [3 ] Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam drew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. [4 ] Then Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim that is in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! [5 ] Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? [6 ] Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord, [7 ] and certain worthless scoundrels gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and irresolute and could not withstand them.
(2 Chronicles 13:1-7 ESV
] “And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. [9 ] Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are no gods. [10 ] But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the LORD who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. [11 ] They offer to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out the showbread on the table of pure gold, and care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him. [12 ] Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”
(2 Chronicles 13:8-12 ESV
] “And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. [9 ] Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are no gods. [10 ] But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the LORD who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. [11 ] They offer to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out the showbread on the table of pure gold, and care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him. [12 ] Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”
(2 Chronicles 13:8-12 ESV
[21 ] But Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. [22 ] The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
(2 Chronicles 13:21-22 ESV)
So we have gathered here that trusting in God and leaning on him gives a nation, peace, strength, honor, and prosperity. Not to mention being on the side of right. All this is accomplished even when the odds are not in your favor from a human perspective.
Asa
[14 :1] Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. [2 ] And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. [3 ] He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim [4 ] and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. [5 ] He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. [6 ] He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace. [7 ] And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.
(2 Chronicles 14:1-7 ESV)
Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. [10 ] And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. [11 ] And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” [12 ] So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. [13 ] Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the LORD and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. [14 ] And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. [15 ] And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
(2 Chronicles 14:9-15 ESV)
Again even when the odds are against you from a human perspective God can and will deliver you.
[15 :1] The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, [2 ] and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. [3 ] For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, [4 ] but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. [5 ] In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. [6 ] They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. [7 ] But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
(2 Chronicles 15:1-7 ESV)
Now this is very interesting. "If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you." Now where it says, "God troubled them with every sort of distress." would be considered by E.W. Bullinger to be the hebrew idiom of permission. Essentially to allow the enemy of Israel to defeat them because they turned their back on God. According to this idiom this is to say that God allowed it. This is more defined in Bullingers book, "Figures of Speech." You can decide for yourself if this interpretation is correct.
As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD. [9 ] And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. [10 ] They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. [11 ] They sacrificed to the LORD on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. [12 ] And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, [13 ] but that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. [14 ] They swore an oath to the LORD with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. [15 ] And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.
[16 ] Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. [17 ] But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. [18 ] And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. [19 ] And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
(2 Chronicles 15:8-19 ESV
Asa responded and peace, health and prosperity followed when he put God first.
16 :1] In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. [2 ] Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, [3 ] “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” [4 ] And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. [5 ] And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. [6 ] Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
(2 Chronicles 16:1-6 ESV
So God delivered Asa when he was badly outnumbered. God gave Asa 30 plus years without war for seeking God and putting him first. So it makes all the sense in the world that Asa would look Benhadad and give him the wealth from "the house of the Lord" because he was scared of his enemy. What?:O Asa knew better. He wasn't leaning on the Lord but through his own understanding. He sought out worldly help instead of help from God. The record doesn't say Asa looked to God first. No, he plundered the house of the Lord and gave the riches of it to Benhadad for "safety" !!! But that's not what he got is it? Read on.
[7 ] At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. [8 ] Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. [9 ] For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” [10 ] Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
(2 Chronicles 16:7-10 ESV)
11 ] The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. [12 ] In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. [13 ] And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. [14 ] They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.
(2 Chronicles 16:11-14 ESV)
Even in death Asa did not look to the Lord. He looked to physicians. No problem with seeing a doctor but remember all healing comes from God first. Your body is designed to heal itself. So all a doctor can do is assist your own body to heal itself. Had God not designed the body to heal it wouldn't do so no matter how good a physician is. Therefore, all healing comes from God. Asa became cruel, turned his back on the God who delivered him. This is an important lesson to all of us. Your not going to have an army to contend with during our day (well not yet). However, do you trust in worldly systems like IRA's, 401k's, your job, your brothers uncle, whatever, do you see that as your security FIRST????? If you do I promise you they will fail you. What Asa went through is not uncommon today. Yes the circumstances have changed but the principle remains intact. What so ever you put before God is an idol, period. And yes we all have them, or have had them. If you seek safety from anything above God that is putting your faith into that IDOL, and it will disappoint you. It's not that saving money, or planning to take care of your family is wrong. It only becomes wrong when you trust it more than God. This can be very subtle. I have to admit I've had to do a check up from the neck up more than once. And yes, I will probably have to do it again in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
